Romania's history has not been as idyllically peaceful as its geography.
Over the centuries, various migrating people invaded Romania.
Romania's historical provinces Wallachia and Moldova offered furious
resistance to the invading Ottoman Turks.
Transylvania was successively under Habsburg, Ottoman, Hungarian or
Wallachian rule, while remaining an (semi) autonomous province.

Romania's post WWII history as a communist-block nation is more widely known, primarily due to the excesses of the former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. In December 1989 a national uprising led to his overthrow. The 1991 Constitution established Romania as a republic with a multiparty system, market economy and individual rights of free speech, religion and private ownership.

Some of the history that has shaped Romania
What is now Romania has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Age as evidenced by
carved stone tools unearthed there.

10,000 B.C. — approximate date of the first known art in present day Romania: cave
paintings in northwest Transylvania.

4,000 B.C. — approximate date of pottery (dated to the Neolithic Age) that is found
in all regions of Romania.

2,000 B.C. — a distinctive Thracian sub-group emerged in what is now Romania. The Greeks called these people Getae, but to the Romans they were Dacians. Herodotus called them "the fairest and most courageous of men" because they believed in the immortality of the soul and were not afraid to die.

11th Century — Romanians were the only Latin people in the eastern part of the former
Roman Empire and the only Latin people to belong to the Orthodox faith.
Hungarian (Magyar) forces invade northwestern and central Romania (Transylvania).

12th Century — Saxon (German) settlers begin to establish several towns in Transylvania. (Germans were invited to settle in Transylvania by the king of Hungary who wanted to consolidate his position in the newly occupied territory).

13th Century — The first formal division of the formerly unified Romanian population. The principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania are established. Transylvania becomes an autonomous principality under Magyar rule, until 1526. Magyar forces tried unsuccessfully to capture Wallachia and Moldavia.

16th-17th Century — Threatened by the Turks who conquered Hungary, the three Romanian provinces of Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania are able to retain their autonomy by paying tribute to the Turks. The principality of Transylvania prospered as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.

1600 — Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania
(map) are briefly united under Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave), prince of Wallachia. Unity lasted only one year after which, Michael the Brave was defeated by the Turks and Hapsburg forces. Transylvania came under Hapsburg rule while Turkish suzerainty continued in Wallachia and Moldavia.

1699 — Transylvania and Bucovina (smaller region north of Moldavia)
are incorporated in the Habsburg Empire.

1765 — Transylvania was declared a Grand Principality of Transylvania, further consolidating its special separate status within the Habsburg Empire.

1821 — Moldavia looses its eastern territory east of river Prut (also called Bessarabia) to Russia.

1856 — The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia — for centuries under the suzerainty of the Turkish Ottoman Empire - secure their autonomy.

1859 — Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected to the thrones of Moldavia and Wallachia.

1862 — Wallachia and Moldavia unite to form a national state: Romania.

1867 — Transylvania falls under the direct rule of Hungary and a strong push for
Magyarisation (of names and official language), from Budapest, follows.

1877 — On May 9 the Romanian parliament declared the independence of Romania from the Ottoman Empire.
A day later, the act was signed by Prince Carol I.

1881 — Kingdom of Romania officially proclaimed.

1892 — the leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania sent a Memorandum to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King Franz Joseph demanding an end to persecutions and Magyarization attempts.

1914 — King Carol I dies. He is succeeded by his nephew King Ferdinand I (1914-1927).
Romania enters WWI on the side of the Triple Entente aiming to regain its lost territories
(part of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina).

1918 — During large public assemblies representatives of most towns, villages and local communities in Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bucovina declare union with Romania.

1930 — Carol II, Ferdinand's I son, becomes king of Romania and establishes royal dictatorship.

1939 — Germany demands a monopoly on Romanian exports (mainly oil, lumber and
agricultural products) in exchange for the guarantee of its borders.

1940 — The Soviet Union annexes Bessarabia and Northern Bucovina. Germany and Italy
force Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary and Southern Dobrogea to Bulgaria.
Widespread demonstrations against King Carol II. Marshall Ion Antonescu forces him to abdicate
in favor of his 19-year-old son Michael. Carol II flees Romania.

1941 — Marshall Ion Antonescu imposes a military dictatorship.
In order to regain Bessarabia, Romania enters WWII against the Soviet Union.

1945 — The Yalta Agreement makes Romania part of the Soviet system.Communist-dominated government installed.

1947 — With Soviet troops on its territory, Romania enters the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. The communists, who gradually took power, force King Michael to abdicate and proclaim Romania a People's Republic.

1967 — Nicolae Ceausescu becomes President of the Council of State
merging leadership of state and party.

1968 — Condemnation of Soviet-led Warsaw Pacy invasion of in Czechoslovakia by Romania's communist
leader Nicolae Ceausescu, earns him praise and economic aid from the West.

1974 — Romania was the first country of the Soviet Bloc to have official relations with the European Community.
(a treaty included Romania in the Community's Generalized System of Preferences).

1980s — Obsessed with repaying the national debt and megalomaniac building projects Ceausescu orders a ban on importation of any consumer products and commands exportation of all goods produced in Romania except minimum food supplies. Severe restrictions of civil rights are imposed.